Star Alliance - No economy award seats nine months out?

So I was looking at United, ANA, and Aeroplan award availability engine and it seems that there is nothing direct between SFO-HKG in economy. I was looking at May 17 onwards, and not just that, most of the "logical connections" such as SFO-NRT-HKG or SFO-ICN-HKG don't show any award seats at all. Am I missing something here? Thanks!

Award inventory changes all the time. Not seeing something today doesn't mean it won't eventually open up. But there is also no guarantee that it will.

All part of the fun of booking with miles.:)

So I was looking at United, ANA, and Aeroplan award availability engine and it seems that there is nothing direct between SFO-HKG in economy. I was looking at May 17 onwards, and not just that, most of the "logical connections" such as SFO-NRT-HKG or SFO-ICN-HKG don't show any award seats at all. Am I missing something here? Thanks!

UA shows saver 2 coach seats available 5/22, 5/23 and 5/29 in the nonstop (UA869).

Not a lot of premium cabin avaialbility.

No SQ or NH at all? Seems wierd

No SQ or NH at all? Seems wierd

On the ANA site, there is coach availability on NH7 (SFO-NRT) after May 17. You could book SFO-NRT-HKG (all on NH) in May and June 2013.

There is also AC availbility SFO-YVR-HKG.

The OZ and SQ availability on the ANA site for SFO-ICN starts to appear in July. I don't know if both carriers block out awards late May through June for some reason.

The availability is there, but sometimes you have to do a segment by segment search to find it.

The UA award site does not show all the options. But I don't know if that is the reapperance of *Net blocking or just IT issues in UA.

On the ANA site, there is coach availability on NH7 (SFO-NRT) after May 17. You could book SFO-NRT-HKG (all on NH) in May and June 2013.

Those award inventories can be misleading, since they could be reserved for ANA's own members. Am I right?

Those award inventories can be misleading, since they could be reserved for ANA's own members. Am I right?

Generally you have to be logged in and have the proper status to see elite availability on AMC. (And I believe that only applies to NH-only awards, not partner awards that include NH segments.)

It is also the four-week "summer" break for Singapore schools beginning from late May, so that is peak travelling time for Singaporean families.

As others have said, "award inventory may open at any time." More specifically, the notion that carriers release all award inventory 330 days out and once it's gone, it's gone, is outdated by about 10 years for most carriers. These days, maybe only a small portion of eventual award inventory released as soon as the schedule opens, and the rest is doled out over time as they get a better idea of how the flights will sell. Specifically, with many carriers, award inventory often opens up only 2-4 weeks in advance of the flights, and sometimes later than that.

Although there are no fixed rules, each carrier seems to have a "rule of thumb" that governs particular routes at particular times of the year. You might want to explore the carriers' forums for those you are considering, and/or just keep checking, and/or get an ExpertFlyer subscription and set alerts for award inventory for those carriers that it supports.

Those award inventories can be misleading, since they could be reserved for ANA's own members. Am I right?

I don't think so. This was using KVS. I believe KVS uses the *A search at the ANA site.

I just tried a *A search on the ANA site and I see the NH award seats. But, to be honest, I don't know for sure if these are *A award seats or ANA FF seats.